Arcus’ Spring 2018 Grantmaking Portfolio Looks to Aid Great Apes and Gibbons in Their Natural Habitats and in Sanctuaries

Arcus’ spring grantmaking portfolio gives support for recipients to carry out a wide variety of great ape and gibbon conservation efforts, offering opportunities to improve chimpanzee care facilities and to strengthen protections for apes in their natural habitats.

The Jane Goodall Institute will use its grant to support the collaborative implementation of the Conservation Action Plan for the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in a partnership with eight conservation organizations. Its aim is to strengthen conservation for the entire Eastern Lowland Gorilla population and a majority of the Eastern chimpanzee population found in that country. The plan includes targeted action in relation to mining, hunting, and disease. Ongoing activities around education, law enforcement, capacity-building, monitoring, and enhancing livelihoods will continue.

Also focusing in natural habitats is grant recipient Village Enterprise Fund, which will use its funding to improve the work focused in improving livelihoods and conservation impact of local communities around the Lomako landscape and strengthen bonobo conservation. The organization’s economic development model will provide opportunities for isolated communities who have few alternatives for income generation and who do not perceive any tangible benefits from the bonobo conservation park. By partnering with communities, the organization will improve and foster relationships that will ultimately support the long-term protection of the landscape and its bonobos. Meanwhile, Fauna & Flora International is also studying the environmental impact of economic development in ape range state multi-use landscapes. The threat to apes of development activities such as extractive industry, industrial agriculture, or infrastructure is increasingly being documented and understood. The organization is working to mitigate this threat by assessing the uptake and application of mitigation hierarchy to protect biodiversity, as well as to consider new initiatives such as the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund.

As one of only a handful of Global Federation of Animal Sanctuary-accredited sanctuaries currently active in accepting ex-pets and retired laboratory chimps, Save the Chimps will use its grant this spring to carry out a variety of strategic tasks, including long-term organizational sustainability, recognized excellence in chimpanzee care, and the capacity to retire additional chimpanzees. It will also work to strengthen its capacity to accept chimps found in inappropriate situations.

Also receiving grants this cycle are Animal Protection of New Mexico, Nonhuman Rights Project, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, International Primate Protection League, and The Legal Atlas.